Bristlenose Catfish, algae, and plants

crazie.eddie

The thing is it's hard NOT to feed mollies, if you have other fish in the tank. They are grazers so will eat what they can get to.

Rob1619

I thought the tank was in cycling modus

FunkWeasel

I hate it when i have to say this, because i love plecos.

I think the best pleco for your tank is a sponge on a stick. sad but true :( feel free to get some anyway though! you wont be disapointed!

jones57742

Hi Funk: Good to see you!

Back to topic.

Have you considered Siamese Algae Eaters.

I had a serious algae problem: algae bloom, algae on walls, hair algae on rocks, wood, plants etc.

I used lighting control and filtration but also procured seven SAE's.

The SAE's were very small three months ago but are now approximately 3".

They are very nice looking fish, add activity to the tank and really help to control the algae.

TR

FunkWeasel

Good to see you to jones.

Siamese Algae eaters is a good idea, make sure not to get chinese algae eaters though. They get twice as big, 8 or 10ish inches. the Siamese get like 4 or 5.

L's bells

what i was going to say! and bn will eat your plants, i have heard some people say they wont but from first hand experience they do! even if they are well fed they like a nibble on soft leaved plants, Java Fern, Anubias seem to be avoided by most if not all fish

jsm11482

I'm thinking that SAE's will not go so well with Discus once I get the tank settled since they are fast movers and would scare the Discus....I would like some plecos so I will start researching them.

jones57742

Yes:

Not only are they "fast movers" but they also do a "ton of running, romping and playing" with themselves as well as with my Yoyo loaches and Cories.

TR

fish_4_all

First, BN don't eat it per say although they will munch at it. I have staghorn on my Anubias and they rasp a little at it but don't control it by any means. Black mollies would be a better choice and SAE even a better one. As for not feedng them, don't feed the tank once or twice a week if needed to get the fish to focus on the algae. Rosey and Golden bards are "supposed" to eat it like spaghetti.

Now the issue is really what is causing the algae. You said the plants are massive now. This says there is likely a deficiency of one or many nutrients. Let's see if we can find the cause so this stuff is manageable or goes away completely. Also, what is your lighting and watts?

What and how much are you dosing? Any CO2? I know my tanks have BBA and staghorn because I have low and unstable levels of CO2. The one that has the BBA is dosed according to EI, the other is now a non-CO2 tanks and the staghorn is likely because of too much of something and because of no CO2 which I am going to augment with Excel when I can get some.